The idea of sharing the nuclear button with other European countries divides but is making its way in the mind of Emmanuel Macron. However, “France has full autonomy in the matter,” he said.
Emmanuel Macron Raised on Saturday, the debate on the idea of a European defense via a nuclear umbrella under the aegis of France. “If my colleagues want to advance towards greater autonomy and deterrent capacities, then we will have to open this discussion,” he said on Portuguese television, the day after healing discussions between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump in the White House. This media outing also occurs in an unprecedented context of rapprochement between Washington and Moscow. This Monday, March 3, the US Secretary for Defense, Pete Hegseth, even announced a cyber-offensive break against Russia on Monday 3 March.
Regarding nuclear weapons, Emmanuel Macron offers “strategic dialogue” with European countries that do not have them and may no longer depend on American deterrence, faced with the risk of withdrawal from the security guarantee of the United States – including nuclear – in Europe. As a reminder, France is one of the only two nuclear powers of the old continent with the United Kingdom. The future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sees this initiative of the French president of a goodEye, judging that it is now necessary to prepare “for the worst scenario”. In other words: the withdrawal of the American security guarantee.
According to him, the discussion with France and the United Kingdom is necessary “on the question of whether we could not benefit from nuclear sharing”. An advantage that can be brought by Paris and London. In addition, European powers are starting to realize that the United States does not seem to be inclined to embark on a possible nuclear conflict – on behalf of a European country, Ukraine – with dramatic consequences with Russia. And this, especially since the election of Donald Trump.
The “nuclear deterrence is French and it will remain so”, but …
“France has full autonomy in the matter (…) We do not depend on another to produce our nuclear capacities, to dispose of them and to operate them by the air and by the sea, which is also a French specificity”, put forward in particular the French head of state during his visit to Portugal. “Our British friends have nuclear capacities (…) less complete than us. There is more dependence on American partners,” he tempered. France has 290 nuclear heads, an arsenal above all defensive. The United Kingdom has its side of 225 warheads, a fleet mainly based on American technology. Europe therefore remains far behind the 3,700 nuclear heads of the United States, and the 6,000 that Russia has.
From 2020, Emmanuel Macron praised “the authentically European dimension” of French vital interests. “His doctrine has a certain mystery because ambiguity is part of its effectiveness,” he said. Indeed, French deterrence is 100 % independent and is based on the appreciation of a single man, the chief of the armies: the President of the Republic. Nuclear weapons should be used in the event of a threat against the vital interests of the country that has it. This is why, a sharing appears to be delicate. Its detractors are numerous, although their speech seems to be slightly polishing themselves by aligning themselves with that of President Macron.
Saturday, March 1, the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu thus assured on X that the “Nuclear deterrence is French and it will remain so: from the design and production of our weapons, to their implementation by decision of the President of the Republic “.” We must answer questions from our European partners on what our deterrent is, on what it can mean for them, and what it will remain, “he continues.
A position shared by the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau: “Such a decision – nuclear fire is the absolute weapon – cannot be shared,” he said on BFMTV -RMC. Before, also, to nuance his remarks: “Since General de Gaulle (…) All the presidents of the Republic have indicated that the strategic interest of France, vital interest, could not be reduced to national territory. In this, for the moment, I do not see any inflection of doctrine of what I have heard of” Emmanuel Macron.
… American uncertainty plunges Europe into blurring
An ex-chief of the French military mission with the UN aligns with these rather nuanced remarks. In the columns of RMC. “There is not a circle of 27 countries which will establish, each with a right to press the button,” says Dominique Trinquand, there is no doubt. However, if “nuclear deterrence will remain French”, “it will be necessary to agree that the vital interests of France widen. It is a dissuasive way of preventing them from threatening us,” he explains. Definitely, “there is no desire to share the nuclear weapon, but this can take the form of an oral or written commitment from the president,” said Héloïse Fayet, researcher at the IFRI security studies center at France Info.
On the British side, difficult for the United Kingdom to act without the approval of the United States. Indeed, London technically depends on Washington on the missiles used and their maintenance. Today, nuclear deterrence at European level would, why not, give more guarantees if its American counterpart came to lose in credibility. “It’s time for a strategic awakening. In all countries there is a disorder, an uncertainty about the long -term American support” conceded Emmanuel Macron. Proof of a disruption of international relations and a certain turnaround of the first monial power.